Sunday, 28 April 2013

Mount Congreve Gardens in Waterford

Closed!!!!

Another day and yet another story
of a house that is closed as a result of the State and solicitors getting involved.The gardens of the Mount Congreve Estate in
Waterford extend to over 70 acres and contain 3,000 varieties of rhododendrons,
four acres of walled gardens and glasshouses.However this jewel in the crown of Waterford Tourism is now closed due
to a dispute that has developed between the OPW and the Mount Congreve Estate.
Again like the situation that occurred at Lissadell, self-sustaining employment
was compromised as 12 gardeners jobs are left in doubt. Ambrose Congreve, a
banker who inherited the house in 1969 died two years ago aged 104.The contents of the house were sold last year
for €2.2 million.

However the estate won’t pass
fully into State ownership for another 19 years and as a result they won’t foot
the bill for the €400,000 annual running costs. While Id admit this is a large
amount of money, in time, if managed properly the estate and its marvellous
grounds could become self-sustaining and less reliant on cash from the exchequer.
This why I still uphold the opinion, as I always have, that the state and
county councils should have nothing to do with historic properties such as
country houses. Again and again it has been debated about a National Trust
style management model to be introduced in Ireland, if this was done and
managed by competent and committed individuals, revenue streams could be
identified for each of these unique properties to make them self-sustaining. Also if this building and its gardens are left
in limbo for 19 years, it will certainly cost a lot more money to restore them
and as always in these situations large amount of original material will be
lost.

Mount Congreve is an 18th century Georgian Mansion near Kilmeaden in Co. Waterford on the banks of the River Suir. It was designed by the architect John Roberts who also designed both Catherdrals in Waterford and Moore Hall in Co. Mayo.

Friday, 26 April 2013

Paintings from Kenmare House Stolen!

A major investigation involving gardaí and UK police is underway after early 19th Century paintings belonging to the Killarney House estate were stolen from private storage, sold in the UK and put on public auction in Dublin.

Imagine my surprise when reading The Irish ndependent today that two paintings from Killarney and Kenmare House have been stolen. I was even more surprised to find out that these portraits had been featured in an auction that I had attended at Slane Castle last October. I remembered looking at these wonderful paintings in the drawing room which were painted by Hugh Douglas Hamilton. They were valued at between €20,000 and €30,000 but were withdrawn after concerns were raised.

The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has responsibility for the items and this week confirmed that they are helping gardaí with investigations following the loss of "a number of items". Asked if further items from the Killarney collection had been stolen, department officials made no comment but stated that inventory of all items in storage and a review of procedures is currently underway.

Of the many beautiful photographs
of wondrous houses that I have viewed during the compilation of my book, none
compare to the extraordinary architectural creation that was Killarney House in
CountyKerry. Both it and its predecessor,
Kenmare House, were once the seats of the Browne family who dominated the town
of Killarney
and its hinterland for generations. After a catastrophic fire in 1913,
virtually nothing remains of the colossus that once stood on a hill overlooking
the town. The main block of the earlier, Kenmare House has shared a similar
fate but one of its service wings still survives and awaits restoration.

The house built in 1726 would become known as
Kenmare House and was designed and built by its owner Valentine in the style of
a French chateau, influenced from time he spent in France. This new mansion
incorporated an earlier seventeenth century house that stood on the site. The
house was two-storeys high and a high dormered attic which was contained in a
steep slated roof

The garden front of Kenmare House which was demolished
in the 1870’s after the construction of Killarney House began. Surrounding
Kenmare House were extensive formal gardens. Today only one of the side wings of Kenmare House remain and
the beautiful gardens are a distant memory replaced by a field of grass. As the
town of Killarney
grew it has encroached on the area where the main block of Kenmare House used
to stand.

The garden front of Killarney House shows a wondrous
collection of gables, bay windows and chimneys. The intricate designs of the
flower beds, stepped terraces and gravel paths give an indication of the cost
involved in the creation of this masterpiece in the 1870s.

In 1872 the new Earl decided to abandon the
existing Kenmare House that dated from 1726 and build a new extravagant
mansion. The old house was seen as old fashioned and it was also said that the
fourth Earl was pressured in to building the new house at the insistence of his
wife Gertrude. The new house which would be known as Killarney House would be
large and imposing red brick Elizabethan-Revival Manor and would occupy a more
elevated site with the grounds of the demesne. It is suggested that Queen
Victoria chose the site for the house when she visited in 1861 as it had
wonderful views of the lakes and mountains. The cost to build the mansion was
estimated at the time at £100,000 and the architect who designed it was George Devey. This mansion burnt down in 1913 and was demolished in the 1940s. In 1956 Mrs. Beatrice Grosvenor, the niece of
the seventh Earl of Kenmare, sold Kenmare house and much of the Kenmare Estate,
to an American syndicate

The entrance hall of Killarney House was designed to
impress with its grand staircase, extensive panelling and an elaborate plaster
ceiling together with a large collection of tapestries and antiques however alot of the contents seen here were lost in the fire in 1913.

A member of this syndicate that
purchased 25,000 acres of the Kenmare Estate in 1956 was a Mr. John Mc Shain
who eventually bought out the other members of the group to become the sole
outright owner in 1959. The remaining block of Kenmare House and the accompanying estate
was sold to the IrishState in 1978 by John
McShain, for a sum well below market value. He did this on the assurance that
it would be incorporated into the neighbouring KillarneyNational Park.
Mr. and Mrs. Mc Shain remained in the surviving block of Kenmare House that had
previously been converted in to a house by the fifth Earl of Kenmare and the
surrounding fifty-two acres for their use during their lifetimes. During this
time when it was in the ownership of the Mc Shains, they remodelled it
extensively and spent their retirement there inviting many friends and family
to visit them. Mr. Mc Shain died in 1989 and his wife passed away in 1998, when
the house and the land reverted to the IrishState
as previously agreed. Most of the contents of the house were acquired by the
Office of Public Works as they included important pieces of furniture and art
dating back to the Earls of Kenmare.

The house has remained unused and the daughter of the
John Mc Shain branded the neglect of the house a disgrace in 2008 when it was
occupied by squatters. However I am glad to report that in December it appears
that the restoration of Kenmare House is finally underway and at least part of
one of the Browne’s former homes will be preserved for future generations.

You can read all about the history of Killarney and Kenmare House in my book Irish Country House - A Chronicle of Change available from

Castletown House

Dundalk, Co. Louth

The Georgian Castletown Castle House and fifteenth century castle
in the early 1900s around the time that the Eastwood Bigger family would have
been in residence.

Accreditation- The
National Library of Ireland

Today both the castle and house appear unchanged
except for the abundant ivy that has been removed. A modern secondary school
has grown up behind both buildings, of which the castle forms part. The later
Georgian house is now the home of the St.
Louis nuns who founded the school in the 1950s.

Accreditation- Photograph
copyright Ellie Ross

This picture shows the complex of buildings that now
make up the substantial secondary school that is known as Dun Lughaidh Convent.

Accreditation- Photograph
copyright Ellie Ross

An engraving of the castle that was first published in
September 1791 by J. Hooper. In this image, which shows the rear of the castle,
the Georgian House built in the 1740s by the Tipping Family cannot be seen.

Castletown Castle House and Castle are situated in the town of Dundalk and also are known to many of its
former students as Dun Lughaidh Convent, which is all girls secondary school.
The fifteenth century castle is now covered in Virginia creeper; its red hue
softens the huge bulk that is the ancient structure, and provides a dramatic
backdrop for the smaller Georgian house. Initially when I found the picture of
Castletown in the photographic collection of the National Library in Dublin, I thought that
these buildings may have been swept away by progress. I was pleasantly
surprised to find that not only are they still standing but both are still in
active use. When I visited Castletown in July 2011, the St. Louis sisters that live there are still extremely
enthusiastic about the history of the building that they now call home.

Richard Bellew built a tower house in the fifteenth century at
Castletown above the town of Dundalk
and it was here that his family and descendents lived for nearly two centuries.
Castletown or BellewsCastle was built around
1472 on the site of an earlier castle that was ‘once defended by a strong wall
and other works of circumvallation’. The square tower house stands nearly
twenty metres in height and four smaller towers project from each of its
corners. One of the most defining features of this building are its
battlements, which are known as crow–stepped or Irish battlements. James II
ennobled the Bellew family in 1686 and John Bellew of Castletown became Baron
Bellew of Duleek in CountyMeath. By the late
seventeenth century the Bellew association had ended and the castle was
abandoned. In 1740, Edward Tipping had acquired the castle with the surrounding
lands and proceeded to build a modern Georgian house adjacent to the ancient
structure. The new house was a plain two-storey dwelling with a three bay
entrance front and became known as Castletown House. Often cold ancient castles
were cast aside in favour of newer, more manageable houses which were often
built beside their elder predecessor. Some of the rooms of the castle were
still used by the Tipping family mainly as ancillary areas to the new house
such as a kitchen and servants hall. The main rooms of the castle on the first
floor have a barrel-vaulted ceiling supporting the principal living area above,
heated by two large fireplaces. A spiral staircase in one of the corner towers
was used to access each floor and the roof of the castle which was often used to
entertain guests with views of Dundalk bay and
the surrounding countryside.

By 1784, the Tipping family had left Castletown Castle House and it was
purchased by John Eastwood from Armagh. In
1786 it is recorded that the Eastwoods are in residence in Castletown House and
several rooms of the castle are said to be still habitable at this time. It was
during the ownership of the Eastwoods that the castle became neglected and
started to become dilapidated. When John Eastwood died in 1790, his son James,
a clergyman, inherited the castle, house and demesne. Rev. James erected an
archway at the gate to the walled garden in the grounds of the house, where he
placed a plaque that recorded the date that he inherited Castletown. In 1806,
James Eastwood was still living at Castletown but when he died two years later,
the estate was inherited by his younger brother Charles. In a survey carried
out in 1823 Castletown was recorded as being the home of Charles Eastwood Esq.
and was described as ‘a fine ancient castle in good repair, a neat modern lodge
which has been attached to it by Mr. Eastwood’. Charles left his mark on the
castle like previous generations when he carved his initials “CE” in the stone
surround on the right hand side of the entrance doorway to the castle. He died
in 1828 and was succeeded by his eldest son James, who it was noted in 1837,
had great intensions of renovating the castle and making a residence for
himself. These plans were never implemented and instead the run-down structure
was used as out offices. Time and money were lavished on landscaping the
grounds around the house, many trees were planted and the walled garden was
improved with the addition of many exotic plants. A formal garden was laid out
to the south and in later years an orchard and a sunken tennis court were added.

In 1851 the last public hanging
took place in Dundalk of two men who attempted
to murder James Eastwood at Castletown. They tried to steal his gold watch and
after an altercation, he was thrown in to a nearby quarry and left for dead.
Despite his severe ill treatment, James still pleaded for clemency and tried to
save the men’s life, but this was to no avail. James who was the local
magistrate, died without issue in 1865 and his body was returned to the family
vault in Armagh. His wife, Louisa, inherited
the house, castle and estate lands which included 877 acres in CountyArmagh.
After James’s death, the family experienced financial problems and a lot of
land was sold under the Land Purchase Acts to clear the substantial debts. In
1886 the castle under went some repairs to its roof and battlements which was
mentioned in Barrett’s Directory.The
house and castle eventually passed from the Eastwoods to the Bigger Family, who
came from the nearby Falmore Hall and were related through marriage. It was
obviously a condition of the inheritance that the Bigger family had to adopt
the additional surname of Eastwood in order to secure the estate. By the time
of the 1901 census, John James Eastwood Bigger is resident in Castletown Castle House
with his wife Kathleen and their three servants. John James appeared to own a
lot of the surrounded properties and was still in residence in Castletown by
the time of the 1911 census when the house is described as having thirteen
rooms and eighteen outbuildings.

An insight to the life of a servant in Castletown Castle House in the early
1900s was described following a tragic incident that took place there in
October 1910. An inquest was held relating to the death of Lawrence Treanor at
Castletown, a coachman in the employment of Mr. Eastwood Bigger. He was found
dead after mistakenly drinking oxalic acid instead of Epsom salts, which he had
purchased for the purpose of removing stains from hunting boots. On the
following Sunday morning, he drank the acid and died a short time afterwards.
Sometimes instances like this were reported as being accidents whereas in
reality these were the drastic actions of people trying to escape their mundane
existence. The end of the Eastwood Bigger family connection with Castletown
came in May 1925 when John James Eastwood Bigger, Junior of Castletown, Dundalk was declared bankrupt. It was interesting to note
that that the advertisement of the bankruptcy noted that any proof of debt sent
to the Four Courts before May 1922 would have been destroyed in a fire during
the Irish Civil War. In September 1926 as a result of the implosion of the
family finances, CastletownCastle and House with ten
cottages were to be sold at the auction rooms of E.J. Bothwell. The main house
is listed as having three reception rooms and eight bedrooms with servant’s
apartments. Outhouses comprised of loose boxes, a coach-house and harness room.
The house and castle were sold with thirty-seven acres of land, which included
fruit, vegetable and flower gardens, which incorporated tennis courts. The
lands of the Eastwood estate were eventually sold to the Land Commission and
divided among the tenants. In the 1940s the Taafe family purchased the house
and grounds.

By May 1950, Castletown Castle House was listed for
sale and was eventually purchased by an order of St. Louis nuns who began the arduous task of
turning the building into a school. The foundation of the school began when
part of the Georgian House was used accommodate classrooms for first students. The
castle has become part of a substantial complex of buildings that has grown up
around it, which accommodates 600 students. The Georgian house eventually became
the home to the sisters of St. Louis
and remains similar to when the Eastwood family lived there. Its internal
layout appears unchanged with the exception of one of the reception rooms,
which has been converted into a private chapel. Initially when the school
opened, the old castle was used as storage as previously to this, it had been
used to store apples from the nearby orchard.Eventually as the school expanded the decision was taken to utilise the
castle building to provide additional space. The survival of both the house and
castle today is a reflection of the passion and commitment that the current
owners have devoted to their preservation

Times have not been kind to this
building that appears majestically overlooking a lake in the black and white picture
from the National Library. The lake is a distant memory and the house is now a
community hospital. An unsympathetic wing has been added that detracts from the
simplistic beauty of a house. Cahercalla House is situated near Ennis in County
Clare, details are few but it was occupied
in the 18th century by the Crofts, England and the Maguire Families.
In 1735 a James Croft died there in 1735 and later The Clare Journal reported
that a Joseph England died there on Monday 1st February 1779. In
1814 the property was owned by David A. England. The Ennis Chronicle of 28th
October 1818, reported that a Thomas Mc Mahon died at Cahercalla the home of David A. England.
David Arthur’s mother was a member of the Mc Mahon family and the house was
probably inherited by a member of the McMahon family as a Charles Mahon lived
here in 1837.

The house was then owned by
Wainright Crowe in the 1860 when he was High Sheriff for Clare. In 1868 on the
instructions of Wainright Crowe nine acres were enclosed in to form a Fair
Green which eventually became the town park in Ennis. In 1873.
Wainwright Crowe of Cahercalla died, he had been the agent for Lord Leconfields
extensive Irish estates having succeeded both his father and brother in the
same position. In 1887 Edith Millicent Crowe daughter of Wainright Crowe
married Wyndham Harry Payne- Gallwey In the 1901 census Wainright Francis
Crowe aged 39, a son of the previous
owner, is in residence in Cahercalla House with his wife Ellen Mary, his two
daughters Muriel Francis and Milicent and his brother Edmund together with five female servants. By 1911 only Wainright,
his two brothers and two female servants are listed as living in the house. The
house is listed as having 30 rooms and 11 windows on its entrance front. In 1909 Wainwright F. Crowe agreed to sell
over 1’600 acres to the Congested Districts Board. The Cahercalla Estate and
residence were aquired by St. Flannan’s College in 1935, three years before the
arrival of St. John of God sister's from Wexford. In 1951 the Bishop of Killaloe opened Cahercalla
as a private hospital to be managed by the Sisters of St. John and it initially
accommodated 35 patients.

Moynalty House

Co. Meath

Moynalty House in the early 1900's with its wonderful glass house

(Copyright the National Library of Ireland)

Moynalty House today, Sadly its glass house is no more.

(Copyright Ellie Ross)

Moynalty House is located in a beautiful village that’s gave the house its name and yet again it is one of those houses that if last night's lotto number came up, I would be heading off to Meath with my cheque book. The Farrell family are responsible for the creation of this house that still retains its integrity despite the years taking their toll on some of its features. Since the black and white picture was taken the house appears aletred, its substantial glass house is gone and the adjoining room has become a garage.

The story of this house begins in the 1820’s which coincided with the transformation of the entire village. Moynalty together with several other town lands were purchased in 1790 by James Farrell for £34,500. James was a Catholic brewer and moneylender from Dublin, who began to purchase land after the relaxation of Penal Legislation in 1782. James lived in Merrion Square in Dublin but carried out many improvements around Moynalty. James’s son John donated land in 1819 for the construction of a Catholic Church at the opposite end of the village to the existing Protestant church which was also being rebuilt at the time. After John married in 1829 he was given the Moynalty estate by his father. Around 1825, John turned his attention to building a home for himself and his wife and the resulting house was constructed in the Regency style, a three-bay, two-storey house with a shallow hipped roof and over sailing bracketed frieze. An imposing feature of this house is its Limestone Doric columns surmount the steps that lead to the front door, these give the house a stately presence despite its small size. Despite its proximity to the village and roads, the house is hidden from view by high walls and trees and the only indication of its presence to the outside world is its decorative irongate posts and beautiful gate lodge. The surrounding estate at its height extended to 4,790 acres.

John did not restrict himself to just creating a home for himself and his wife but he also turned his attention to remodelling the whole village. The redevelopment of the village began in 1826 and was completed by 1837; this involved the removal of mud huts and other sub standard buildings. All the houses on the river side of Main Street were removed, creating a green area that sloped down to the river. Much was made over the years of the village of being “all to one side”, however in the 20thcentury buildings were constructed on the river side. The tradition of improving the village is something that has continued down through the years, with the village winning the “Tidy Towns” awards numerous times including being named as overall winner yet again in 2011.

John’s son Arthur who was born at the time of the construction of the house inherited the house and in 1860 he married Lucretia Pauline, the daughter of the 13th Viscount Gormanston. In the census of 1901, John Arthur Farrell was aged 75 and his wife Lucretia who was aged 62 and her profession is listed as a “daughter of a Peer of the Realm”. Living with them at this time were their three sons and a daughter. To see to their needs was a substantial staff listed as being part of the household which included a cook, house keeper, house maid, laundry maid, kitchen maid, coachman and footmen. When Arthur passed away in 1904 his son John Edward returned from Tasmania to run the estate but he sold it due to ill health. In the 1911 John Edward aged 49 is now listed as being the head of household, his wife is Harriet Susannah who was born in Kent in England. There two sons and four daughters and their governess are also in residence together with eight servants which includes a new position in the ranks of the staff from 1901, a ladies maid. Only one of John Edward’s six children was born in Moynalty, the other five were born in Hobart, Tasmania, the eldest child is 22.

In November 1928 under the instructions of Major V.J. Farrell to sell Moynalty House on Monday 19th November. The house is described as having 2 drawing rooms, dining room, library, hall, office, 4 bedrooms, bathroom and lavatory on the entry level, top floor consists of 6 bedrooms, lavatory, the basement contained kitchen, servants hall, pantries and dairy. The conservatory was still in situ at this time and is described as having its own heating, the remainder if the house was heated by central heating. The inner yard contained 6 loose boxes, hay shed, workshop, engine room, garage, oil shed and men’s quarters with lavatory. The farmyard consisted cattle shed, oats loft, laundry, stabling for 8 horses, boiler houses and turnip house. There were also two tennis courts, large garden, green houses, and gardeners store rooms, potting shed, gate lodge and sheds.

The Irish Country House Blog - The Houses Known by the Trees

My name is David Hicks and I am the author of 'Irish Country Houses - A Chronicle of Change' published in October 2012 and 'Irish Country Houses - Portraits & Painters' published in October 2014 , both published by Collins Press, Cork. This blog features unpublished articles and photographs assembled from my archive gathered over years of research. I am currently compiling my third book 'Irish Country Houses - Restoration & Redemption'.
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